Rise of the Warrior Cop

Is it time to reconsider the militarization of American policing?

By

Radley Balko

Updated Aug. 7, 2013 4:44 p.m. ET

On Jan. 4 of last year, a local narcotics strike force conducted a raid on the Ogden, Utah, home of Matthew David Stewart at 8:40 p.m. The 12 officers were acting on a tip from Mr. Stewart's former girlfriend, who said that he was growing marijuana in his basement. Mr. Stewart awoke, naked, to the sound of a battering ram taking down his door. Thinking that he was being invaded by criminals, as he later claimed, he grabbed his 9-millimeter Beretta pistol.

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Photo illustration by Sean McCabe

The police say that they knocked and identified themselves, though Mr. Stewart and his neighbors said they heard no such announcement. Mr. Stewart fired 31 rounds, the police more than 250. Six of the officers were wounded, and Officer Jared Francom was killed. Mr. Stewart himself was shot twice before he was arrested. He was charged with several crimes, including the murder of Officer Francom.

The police found 16 small marijuana plants in Mr. Stewart's basement. There was no evidence that Mr. Stewart, a U.S. military veteran with no prior criminal record, was selling marijuana. Mr. Stewart's father said that his son suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and may have smoked the marijuana to self-medicate.

Early this year, the Ogden city council heard complaints from dozens of citizens about the way drug warrants are served in the city. As for Mr. Stewart, his trial was scheduled for next April, and prosecutors were seeking the death penalty. But after losing a hearing last May on the legality of the search warrant, Mr. Stewart hanged himself in his jail cell.

The police tactics at issue in the Stewart case are no anomaly. Since the 1960s, in response to a range of perceived threats, law-enforcement agencies across the U.S., at every level of government, have been blurring the line between police officer and soldier. Driven by martial rhetoric and the availability of military-style equipment—from bayonets and M-16 rifles to armored personnel carriers—American police forces have often adopted a mind-set previously reserved for the battlefield. The war on drugs and, more recently, post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts have created a new figure on the U.S. scene: the warrior cop—armed to the teeth, ready to deal harshly with targeted wrongdoers, and a growing threat to familiar American liberties.

The acronym SWAT stands for Special Weapons and Tactics. Such police units are trained in methods similar to those used by the special forces in the military. They learn to break into homes with battering rams and to use incendiary devices called flashbang grenades, which are designed to blind and deafen anyone nearby. Their usual aim is to "clear" a building—that is, to remove any threats and distractions (including pets) and to subdue the occupants as quickly as possible.

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Today the U.S. has thousands of SWAT teams. A team prepares to enter a house in Vallejo, Calif., on March 20, above.
Daily Republic/Associated Press

The country's first official SWAT team started in the late 1960s in Los Angeles. By 1975, there were approximately 500 such units. Today, there are thousands. According to surveys conducted by the criminologist Peter Kraska of Eastern Kentucky University, just 13% of towns between 25,000 and 50,000 people had a SWAT team in 1983. By 2005, the figure was up to 80%.

The number of raids conducted by SWAT-like police units has grown accordingly. In the 1970s, there were just a few hundred a year; by the early 1980s, there were some 3,000 a year. In 2005 (the last year for which Dr. Kraska collected data), there were approximately 50,000 raids. Some federal agencies also now have their own SWAT teams, including NASA and the Department of the Interior.

Americans have long been wary of using the military for domestic policing. Concerns about potential abuse date back to the creation of the Constitution, when the founders worried about standing armies and the intimidation of the people at large by an overzealous executive, who might choose to follow the unhappy precedents set by Europe's emperors and monarchs.

The idea for the first SWAT team in Los Angeles arose during the domestic strife and civil unrest of the mid-1960s. Daryl Gates, then an inspector with the Los Angeles Police Department, had grown frustrated with his department's inability to respond effectively to incidents like the 1965 Watts riots. So his thoughts turned to the military. He was drawn in particular to Marine Special Forces and began to envision an elite group of police officers who could respond in a similar manner to dangerous domestic disturbances.

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When A strike force raided the home of Matthew David Stewart, one officer was killed.
Standard-Examiner/Associated Press

Mr. Gates initially had difficulty getting his idea accepted. Los Angeles Police Chief William Parker thought the concept risked a breach in the divide between the military and law enforcement. But with the arrival of a new chief, Thomas Reddin, in 1966, Mr. Gates got the green light to start training a unit. By 1969, his SWAT team was ready for its maiden raid against a holdout cell of the Black Panthers.

At about the same time, President Richard Nixon was declaring war on drugs. Among the new, tough-minded law-enforcement measures included in this campaign was the no-knock raid—a policy that allowed drug cops to break into homes without the traditional knock and announcement. After fierce debate, Congress passed a bill authorizing no-knock raids for federal narcotics agents in 1970.

Over the next several years, stories emerged of federal agents breaking down the doors of private homes (often without a warrant) and terrorizing innocent citizens and families. Congress repealed the no-knock law in 1974, but the policy would soon make a comeback (without congressional authorization).

During the Reagan administration, SWAT-team methods converged with the drug war. By the end of the 1980s, joint task forces brought together police officers and soldiers for drug interdiction. National Guard helicopters and U-2 spy planes flew the California skies in search of marijuana plants. When suspects were identified, battle-clad troops from the National Guard, the DEA and other federal and local law enforcement agencies would swoop in to eradicate the plants and capture the people growing them.

Advocates of these tactics said that drug dealers were acquiring ever bigger weapons and the police needed to stay a step ahead in the arms race. There were indeed a few high-profile incidents in which police were outgunned, but no data exist suggesting that it was a widespread problem. A study done in 1991 by the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute found that less than one-eighth of 1% of homicides in the U.S. were committed with a military-grade weapon. Subsequent studies by the Justice Department in 1995 and the National Institute for Justice in 2004 came to similar conclusions: The overwhelming majority of serious crimes are committed with handguns, and not particularly powerful ones.

The new century brought the war on terror and, with it, new rationales and new resources for militarizing police forces. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Department of Homeland Security has handed out $35 billion in grants since its creation in 2002, with much of the money going to purchase military gear such as armored personnel carriers. In 2011 alone, a Pentagon program for bolstering the capabilities of local law enforcement gave away $500 million of equipment, an all-time high.

The past decade also has seen an alarming degree of mission creep for U.S. SWAT teams. When the craze for poker kicked into high gear, a number of police departments responded by deploying SWAT teams to raid games in garages, basements and VFW halls where illegal gambling was suspected. According to news reports and conversations with poker organizations, there have been dozens of these raids, in cities such as Baltimore, Charleston, S.C., and Dallas.

In 2006, 38-year-old optometrist Sal Culosi was shot and killed by a Fairfax County, Va., SWAT officer. The investigation began when an undercover detective overheard Mr. Culosi wagering on college football games with some buddies at a bar. The department sent a SWAT team after Mr. Culosi, who had no prior criminal record or any history of violence. As the SWAT team descended, one officer fired a single bullet that pierced Mr. Culosi's heart. The police say that the shot was an accident. Mr. Culosi's family suspects the officer saw Mr. Culosi reaching for his cellphone and thought he had a gun.

In 2010, the police department in New Haven, Conn., sent its SWAT team to raid a bar where police believed there was underage drinking. For sheer absurdity, it is hard to beat the 2006 story about the Tibetan monks who had overstayed their visas while visiting America on a peace mission. In Iowa, the hapless holy men were apprehended by a SWAT team in full gear.

Unfortunately, the activities of aggressive, heavily armed SWAT units often result in needless bloodshed: Innocent bystanders have lost their lives and so, too, have police officers who were thought to be assailants and were fired on, as (allegedly) in the case of Matthew David Stewart.

In my own research, I have collected over 50 examples in which innocent people were killed in raids to enforce warrants for crimes that are either nonviolent or consensual (that is, crimes such as drug use or gambling, in which all parties participate voluntarily). These victims were bystanders, or the police later found no evidence of the crime for which the victim was being investigated. They include Katherine Johnston, a 92-year-old woman killed by an Atlanta narcotics team acting on a bad tip from an informant in 2006; Alberto Sepulveda, an 11-year-old accidentally shot by a California SWAT officer during a 2000 drug raid; and Eurie Stamps, killed in a 2011 raid on his home in Framingham, Mass., when an officer says his gun mistakenly discharged. Mr. Stamps wasn't a suspect in the investigation.

What would it take to dial back such excessive police measures? The obvious place to start would be ending the federal grants that encourage police forces to acquire gear that is more appropriate for the battlefield. Beyond that, it is crucial to change the culture of militarization in American law enforcement.

Consider today's police recruitment videos (widely available on YouTube), which often feature cops rappelling from helicopters, shooting big guns, kicking down doors and tackling suspects. Such campaigns embody an American policing culture that has become too isolated, confrontational and militaristic, and they tend to attract recruits for the wrong reasons.

If you browse online police discussion boards, or chat with younger cops today, you will often encounter some version of the phrase, "Whatever I need to do to get home safe." It is a sentiment that suggests that every interaction with a citizen may be the officer's last. Nor does it help when political leaders lend support to this militaristic self-image, as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg did in 2011 by declaring, "I have my own army in the NYPD—the seventh largest army in the world."

The motivation of the average American cop should not focus on just making it to the end of his shift. The LAPD may have given us the first SWAT team, but its motto is still exactly the right ideal for American police officers: To protect and serve.

SWAT teams have their place, of course, but they should be saved for those relatively rare situations when police-initiated violence is the only hope to prevent the loss of life. They certainly have no place as modern-day vice squads.

Many longtime and retired law-enforcement officers have told me of their worry that the trend toward militarization is too far gone. Those who think there is still a chance at reform tend to embrace the idea of community policing, an approach that depends more on civil society than on brute force.

In this very different view of policing, cops walk beats, interact with citizens and consider themselves part of the neighborhoods they patrol—and therefore have a stake in those communities. It's all about a baton-twirling "Officer Friendly" rather than a Taser-toting RoboCop.

Corrections & Amplifications The Consumer Products Safety Commission does not have a SWAT team. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that it does. Also, the U.S. Department of Education and the Fish and Wildlife Service have law-enforcement divisions, but the agencies say they don't receive tactical or military training and don't operate as SWAT teams. An earlier version of this essay incorrectly said that the agencies have SWAT teams. In addition, the earlier version incorrectly described the execution of two search warrants. In the first case, the FWS says that its officers' weapons weren't drawn when it searched a Gibson Guitar factory in 2009. The essay incorrectly called it an "assault-style raid." In the second case, the Department of Education says its search of the residence of alleged members of a student-loan fraud ring was successfully executed. The essay incorrectly described the search as "bungled" and incorrectly implied that the home was searched because a resident had failed to repay her student loan. Finally, Mr. Balko says that he sought comment from the U.S. government agencies mentioned in the essay while researching a book in 2012. The essay incorrectly implied that the agencies had failed to respond to recent requests for comment.

Mr. Balko is the author of "Rise of the Warrior Cop," published this month by PublicAffairs.

None of this could have to do with increasing our defense budget several fold over the past two decades or more? Time to take the toys from the boys and preserve/strengthen our social programs like SS, Medicare and infrastructure.

Just think if we had spent half of what was spent on Iraq on our water pipes, sewers, public transportation etc., productivity would be even higher than achieved by shipping our jobs to underage workers in China...

The brain initiative and Obama
Care are the great deceptions and two of the worst deceptions
perpetrated on the citizens of the United States of America. State and Local
law enforcement are implanting innocent citizens with a biochip. According to
"A Note on Uberveillance" by MG & Katina Michael, it's "like
big brother on the inside looking out." "Safeguards in a World of
Ambient Intelligence" by Springer page 9 states, "law enforcement
would have us believe that we can only be safe as long as they know where we
are at all times, what we’re doing and what we are 'thinking'". It is such
an invasion of privacy. They use the active denial system to make you think you
are hearing voices - it has technology like the audio spotlight. Next they use
Psyops like stalking, drugs, kidnapping, whatever they can to either 1) put you
in a "crisis stabilization ward" or 2) a prison and steal your guns.
They are targeting female Christians and military veterans. Go to Rutherford
Institute and check out Brandon Raub. They take you to crisis
stabilization wards even if you're not a danger to yourself or others and
show no sign of mental illness. Why? Because there is a Supreme Court
Case by Justice Cardoza - Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital,105 N.E.
92 (1914 ) that says anyone of sound mind and not a criminal has a right to say
what goes in their body or on their body. They want to ensure there is no way
you can get this off. No one in America wants this level of privacy invasion.
In addition, it allows law enforcement the opportunity to torture you at will
with sleep deprivation, heart attacks and other pains. The active denial system
can murder without leaving a mark! The Bio Initiative Report with 2014
additions details all the cancers, diseases and disabilities it causes. Hence,
the need for Obama Care.

The first use of "SWAT" as an acronym was the Special Weapons and Tactics Squad established by the Philadelphia Police Department. In 1964, Philadelphia experienced a rash of bank robberies. To answer that threat, the Philadelphia Police Department established a 100-man Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) squad.

The first actual SWAT-type operations were conducted north of Los Angeles in the farming community of Delano, California in the San Joaquin Valley, in response to protest actions staged by César Chavez' United Farm Workers union.

Personnel from the LAPD, having seen the news broadcasts, contacted Delano and inquired about the program. One officer then obtained permission to observe the Delano Police Department's special weapons and tactics units in action, and afterwards, he took what he had learned back to Los Angeles, where his knowledge was used and expanded on to form the LAPD's own first SWAT unit.

great summary of these events. i have been following the build-up of 'military arms' used by swat teams since the late 60's. one reason i have heard for the excessive militarization of local police depts. and swat teams explains that police depts. have been taking more and more federal funding. making them closely tied to the federal government where they become more beholden and in essence become one national police force. troubling!in the past the 'tactics' aspect of the swat teams emphasized much more interaction verbally or psychologically with suspects. relying on talking to suspects in order to control the them without causing any harm and using force only as a last resort.

early in his first campaign president obama stated that he ...'wanted a civilian force as well armed as the military'. why?

in los angeles county the calif. dept of fish & game ?? in pursuit of a rouge cop were armed with high caliber M-4's; a larger caliber than many military units currently use.

and some attention should be paid to the rumor that the dept. of homeland security 'bought-up/purchased' more than 2 million 9 mm rounds. for what?

it seems the more afraid our citizens become the greater the risk for law enforcement to over react and use deadly force before sussing out the situation and doubling checking the facts of their warrants... innocent lives, or extremely mild criminal behavior should not result in violent death. and true, Cops should not be placed in danger either they need protection granted. but 'tactics' before 'helo infiltration' pls!

Brazil has it since the time of the Military Dictatorship. The result is rather disappointing: the growth of deadly violence (practiced by the police with political purpose, profit or fun), growth of drug trafficking (because of the protection that drug dealers pay the police, in cash or "otherwise"), growth of death squads (composed of officers during service or off) and growing fear that the population has of the State (rightly or no). We strive to get rid of these robots in the service of death for decades. If Americans want, we can export thousands of them to the USA (they have good aim and rarely take to the streets without "down a corpse") They have to soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_TxnhZvw8o

A few years back, I had to call the police in Bellevue, Washington to report a cell phone taken from my desk in an office building. The young man who visited me was very polite and professional, exhibiting the quality of character one would hope to encounter when interacting with law enforcement. Still, the feeling I just couldn't get over, after looking at all the gear and gadgets that was part of his uniform, was that I was being interviewed by a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

These "bad guys" you speak of are innocent Americans who you SUSPECT have committed a crime.I don't believe most of you are power trippers, I think you are mindless drones doing what you're told and you cannot grasp most citizens desires to live their lives without an overlord.

My home in Orlando, FL was raided WITHOUT A WARRANT by a SWAT team in 2008. My home was searched for drugs (none were found) and I was interrogated in my living room for two hours without being allowed to make a phone call or leave despite not being charged with any crime. In the end, the guy in charge shook my hand and told me I "checked out".

I am very lucky that I was not accidentally shot during the incident. I repeatedly asserted my constitutional rights, but was threatened with arrest (despite not being accused of any crime) unless I cooperated. It was an extremely nerve-racking experience, and now I have to admit I am a bit paranoid about the police state that many of my fellow Americans apparently don't believe we are living in.

I contacted my local ACLU to help me hold the Orlando Police Dept accountable, but they told me they knew of dozens of similar cases in Central Florida per year and simply could not dedicate the resources to fight my particular case.

As an aside, I am a bartender (when not trying to breakthrough as an author) and perchance I wound up bartending the wedding of one of the SWAT officer's that raided my home a few years later. He even had a special groom's cake with SWAT gear on it! He and his buddies were quite an arrogant bunch. They didn't recognize me at all, and in the end, I forgave them because we are all pawns caught up in a game that is much bigger than any of us individually.

I consider myself a progressive, but I will vote for any libertarian who promises to end this madness.

The issues described here are indeed disturbing, but the author is not even handed and failed to mention a rising movement in the tactical community: NTOA Standards, which enhance the safety and professionalism of SWAT teams.

Excellent article. I was a certified law enforcement officer for 13 years and a soldier in the "War on Drugs". Today it is my fervent opinion that the war on drugs can be added to the list of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and any other conflicts we have decided to barge into overnight. Enlightened Society, I don't think so. All of these aforementioned conflicts were forced upon the American public by whatever Administration was in office at that time. They, in my opinion, are all abject failures. With catastrophic loss of young American lives and immense public resources (Specifically Budgets). We, the American public, financially fund these "Campaigns" through our hard won Income Taxes. When do we get the opportunity to say "ENOUGH"! End the War on Drugs, realize it is a social issue and not a criminal issue. And for those that doubt my national duty or responsibility, I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1970 and was Honorably Discharged in 1973.

What they omit telling you is: "we're also here listening to your phones, reading your e-mails, interpret your medical records; and we're very much prepared to put a swift end to any form of protests, if necessary."

This is how Sturmabteilung, STASI, NKVD, and many other flavors of state police have formed.

"You bring me the man, I'll find you the crime." L. Beria, head of NKVD

This is ANOTHER reason, even though I DO NOT use drugs I HATE the "War on Drugs". It is a FAILURE, you CANNOT stop people from using intoxicants, even the threat of DEATH will not stop them. It is nothing but a RACKET for Law Enforcement and we are losing our liberties and RIGHTS over it. You would have NEVER heard of AL CAPONE if we had not had PROHIBITION. Probably never heard of Joe Kennedy either, he was a HUGE Boot Legger. The County I live in will not prosecute a Burglary IF the Burglars are "Known Drug Users". They tell me, "Well. he will run a Stop Sign or something and he will have DOPE in the car and we will get him THEN. They want to do a DRUG RAID so they can SEIZE the PROPERTY in the possession of the DRUG Thug even though it belongs to some one ELSE, they do that all the time!!! It is a JOKE, and UN-WINNABLE. It is a MISERABLE FAILURE WAKE UP America!!!! Bob Burnitt

This is something Americans should turn the damned football off and do something ABOUT. These para-military cops are DANGEROUS in every way. They have "raided" at the WRONG ADDRESS and killed and maimed American citizens over and over. At my place I have been burglarized 30 times and have had ONE HOME INVASION by THUGS. When somebody starts BATTERING DOWN MY DOOR I am going to start shooting. Even a THUG can say "POLICE open up". Suppose you are in the shower as ONE MAN was not too long ago, the police "raided" his house, they were at the WRONG ADDRESS, he came out of the shower to DEFEND himself and the COPS shot him to pieces. He is now a VEGETABLE. The COPS got the ADDRESS WRONG, this man, like ME was no CRIMINAL and his family CANNOT sue for DAMAGES, Government Immunity. DO SOMETHING before this happens to YOU!!! Bob Burnitt

The real problem is not the equipment, which they need to some degree to be prepared for the threats that are out there. The fundamental problem is that the people no longer view the laws that the police are enforcing as their laws. The laws have grown into a giant web of political control, dictated from an entrenched political establishment who is more interested in maintaining their own power and that of the entities that fund them, than in serving people. When the average person, who the police are trying to protect, view the police as a controlling force to be feared instead of their protectors, then it cannot end well. This is why the constitution wanted legislation for the general welfare left to the states.

It is a shame that the men and woman who are trying to protect us are forced to be (at least portrayed as) jackboots for the benefit of politicians personal power.

I agree that community policing would be the best option. Unfortunately, much of our infrastructure is not suitable for it. In places like LA, and here in Dallas, everything is spread out. No one walks anywhere; people travel by car. How could there be community policing? We really don't have much of a community anyway, again because of the infrastructure.

Having said the above, my last real interaction with police (in the late 90s) was an example of how it should be done. Sometimes our house shifts so that the front door won't stay closed without locking. We were awakened at 3:00 a.m. by a couple of cops who noticed the open door. They asked if we were ok, we said yes. Then they politely asked me to come outside, which I did. Then they asked my wife if SHE were ok. We both thanked them for watching out for us and especially for her.

The police in America are out of control. Rarely does a week go by without a news account of blatant disregard for civil liberties and rampant violence against ordinary citizens, most of which is utterly unnecessary. Its time for strong pushback from the public. Every major police force across the country should have a citizen's watchdog tracking their behavior and all police officers should be held accountable by this watchdog group and a grand jury when appropriate. The police need to remember that they work for US and we are the ones writing their paychecks, so therefore we are their bosses.

Thank you Mr. Balko for publicizing this very important problem. It's not just SWAT teams who are out of control. Regular cops who taze people and otherwise respond excessively and out-of-proportion are a threat and menace to society. We need to dial-back the power of the police - they are not protecting and serving.

This is not good. America looks more and more like a totalitarian state. The IRS invades our privacy.The NSA and others monitor communications. The justice system is a disgrace. And tens of thousands of militarized units stand ready to attack us in our homes.

Jimmy Carter said recently that we no longer have a functioning democracy. I do not often agree with Mr. Carter but on this he is clearly correct.

The police here are just tax enforcement for zionist' federal reserve! The only policing that is legal according to the constitution is the militia of the people, and only under certain circumstances. Anyone in jail for marijuana is serving time for not paying a tax, per the marihuana tax act of 1937, passed through government into law under dubious circumstances, to say the least, it was a foot in the door to take over agriculture here. Now israel is spraying us with drugs in the sky daily as pacification, calling it a rainmaking benefit, when in fact it is a lockdown on food and water. The zionist worms have now introduced blood sport into their public relations efforts, I mean media, and the slaves lap it up. this article is just such, duh. All credible prognostication predicted these events, because they know how the zionist people, and all their offshoots, really are. Drug laws are to keep street prices high and to foster pharmaceuticals. People with brains know this. Christians are not generally people with brains, they have FAITH instead, and they have created hell on earth with it. Christians have enabled the israeli state here in America by making the zionists into Gods chosen people and the zionists love that, you bet. Time will tell though. Time will tell.

Legalize Marijuana!!!! The Citizens of Hawaii County, Hawaii USA voted and allow persons to have 24 plants or 24 ounces in their possession.

The USA Citizens should demand to know how many people are in prison on Marijuana Charges, those additional charges occurred in Police Break ins and the number of lives lost because the USA Federal Government will not allow The Legalization of Marijuana!!!

"The USA has the Largest Prison Population On Earth" and that speaks loudly that there is no true representation of the people in running their government and in their creation of their laws!!!

I feel many of us think that Police' job is to serve and protect us-the citizens. Wrong! Please watch on utube a story about Joe Lozito in NY subway. This will help you understand the relationship between Police and public.

We have a choice: Be free or...actually..what's the choice? I'm going to be free. Nothing against the people who have these jobs exactly, but we need to think about where our efforts are leading us. What's the trajectory of all this? Is it a course of honor?

It's not self defense when you smash the guy's front door down in the middle of the night and invade a home with guns drawn. It's OFFENSIVE ACTION. It's like Zimmerman running Treyvon down with his car and saying he was 'standing his ground'...

Well the tactics are not QUITE the same. Our goal in Iraq and Afghanistan was to win the hearts and minds of the citizens, so our solders had to go out of their way to make SURE they did not harm innocents, and were prosecuted if they did. Over here? Not so much.

So just exactly what does the Department of Education SWAT team have to do with drugs? Yes, drugs are ONE convenient excuse for this swill. But they are only ONE of MANY. And the GD pigs will be glad to use ANY excuse to murder Mere Citizens. Whether it's a student loan, or a card game or a hose nozzle or a cell phone. May they and their families burn where they belong for what they have done. EVERY one of them. For if there were ANY "good" cops at all in the system, the pigs would be LONG gone.

You'd be surprised by some of the Agencies that have their own SWAT team, let alone police for at all. Why does the IRS have a SWAT team? Almost all of the agencies that have police forces could simply use local police, or FBI to serve their warrants, but they have to spend the money they get somehow, if they don't then they wont get as much next year. So they choose to employ police forces to justify their budgets.

RyanWho would go to the police with a rights case? Mark is almost right. The cops were pigs in the '60s when they used billyclubs on students at sit ins. Now they are HOGS using automatic weapons raiding homes over people behind on student loan payments.

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